Mechanical Inclination

Hey, me again. I'm back after a bit of a hiatus. With school going back in person, I've not had much time to write lately. That being said, I am going to try to find time to make posts weekly (at least.)  Lets get right in to it, shall we? This is a review I have been wanting to write for a good while. The fabled Rotring 800. My 800s are probably my favorite pencils in my collection. All brass, retractable tip, nice knurling, what more could you want?  I currently have two Rotring 800s, with one being the first good mechanical pencil I ever purchased. (By good I mean one that lasts longer than one school day, and won't fall apart after minimal use.) I have the 0.7 model in black and the 0.5 model in silver. The black one (pictured below) has seen significant love and abuse, as evidenced by the paint wearing off. This may be an issue to some, but to me it shows the adventures the pencil has taken, and adds some sentimental value.  The Rotring 800 has a very crisp mechanism...

 Look out world, here comes the first of many reviews. Today I have a Dietzgen SharPoint mechanical pencil lead pointer. This was purchased for me by my grandpa in celebration of me starting this blog. I had seen these around, but never a branded one. It works best with 2.0 Millimeter leads, as they are big enough to not snap off when rotated in the sharpener. I tested it with my Staedtler Mars Technico, and it sharpened to a near needle point, great for fine lines and precision. The sharpener employs an interesting system to ensure even sharpening. Once the pencil is inserted into the pipe, the lid is turned clockwise, and the lead rubs against a sand paper-like surface. I will certainly be using this quite often, since a 2 mm sharpener that works well is rather hard to come by. Seen above is the aforementioned pipe, where the magic happens. So, there you have it! An excellent and practical addition to my collection. I hope you enjoyed this review. 

  Rather simple project for this evening. Using a potentiometer, I designed a circuit that allows for the red LED to be dimmed. More to come.

Today, I finally got the urge to make something with my heaps of wires and Arduino supplies. In a time of endless days and weeks of bleak nothingness, I decided to create something to remind me that, contrary to how it often feels, time does go on!  I usually open a tutorial, see how complicated the schematic is, and decide to do something else. But, in a fit of unheard of work ethic, I powered through this project. This is a simple clock that runs off of an Arduino Uno board and displays to an LCD. It tells down to the second, with reasonable accuracy. It was a nice way to spend an hour, and I'll be attempting more projects soon. Feel free to leave some ideas in the comments!

 Is This Thing On? Welcome to my Blog! This is something I've been meaning to do for a long time, and I am excited to finally bring this to fruition!